Governing device for take-up reels of moving-picture machines.



A. D. COVERT.

GOVERNING DEVICE FOR TAKE-UP REELS 0F MOVING PICTURE MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5, I916.

Patented May 8, 191.7.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

III/VE/VTOR flZEf/PT 5. CbV/WZ A TTOR/VEIS A. D. COVERT.

GOVERNING DEVICE FOR TAKE-UP REELS 0F MOVING PICTURE MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5. I9I6.

Lwfifl o Patented May8,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

'IlI II III l I 3/ Q 50 67 IZJZ 96 A TTOR/VEVS ALBERT I). COVERT,- OF LELAND, ILLINOIS.

GOVERNING DEVICE FOR TAKE-UP REELS OF MOVING-PICTURE MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3, 1917.

Application filed May 5, 1916. Serial No. 95,684.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT D. COVERT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Leland, in the county of La Salle and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Governing Devices for Take-Up Reels of Moving-Pic- 'ture Machines, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to improvements in automatic governing devices for take-up reels of moving picture machines, and' it consists in the combinations, constructions, and arrangements herein described and claimed.

In the operation of moving picture machines it often happens that the strain on the film between the take-up reel and one of the, actuating sprockets is such as to break the film or to tear it. This is more apt to occur where the film is being run fast.

A11 object of my invention is to provide a device, by means of which the take-up reel will be increased in speed as the film is fed faster through the machine up to a certain point, after which the take-up reel will maintain a uniform speed, thereby obviating the danger of excessive speed which will tend to strain or break the film.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for reducing the speed of the take-up reel as the diameter of the roll of film on the take-up reel increases.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view, showing the course of the film through the device.

Fig. 2 is a section along the line 22 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section along the line 44 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of a nut locking de vice.

Fig. 6 is a section along the line 66 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the device.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a portion of the device.

In carrying out my invention I provide a base 1 upon which are mounted the uprights 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively, see Fig. 6. Carried by the upright 2 is a vertical shaft 6 which is mounted for rotation around its vertical axis. The shaft bears a bevel gear 7 and has a governor device, consisting of a collar 8 fixed to the shaft, to which are pivotally connected the balls 9, the latter being pivotally connected with a slidable collar 10 having a groove 11, into which the pins 12, see Fig. 8, of a yoke 13 at the end of a lever 14, project.

The lever 14 is mounted at 15 upon the standard 4, and is normally held in a downward position by means of a spring 16 which is connected to the base 1. At the end of the lever opposite the yoke 13 is disposed a rotatable shaft 17, which bears a bevel gear 18 on the under side of'the lever, and a fric tion disk 19 on the upper side of the lever.

The friction disk 19 is in normal engagement with a friction wheel 20, which is mounted on a shaft 21 and which is held in contact with the wheel or disk 19 by means of a spring 22. The shaft 21 bears a bevel gear 23 arranged to mesh with a bevel gear 24 on a shaft 25 carried by the upright 5, and bearing a sprocket wheel 26 having a sprocket chain 27 leading to the sprocket 28 on the shaft of the take-up reel 29, see Fig. 1.

In Fig. 7 I have shown a sprocket chain 30 which runs over a sprocket 31, see also Fig. 1, the latter being mounted on a shaft 32 having a sprocket 33 which is connected by a sprocket chain 34 with a sprocket 35 on a shaft 36 which bears a bevel gear 37, see Fig. 7, arranged to engage the bevel gear 18. The shaft 32 has a bevel gear 38 Which is in engagement with the bevel gear 7.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 6, it will be observed that the upright 3 has an arm 3 which bears an adjustable stop member 40 arranged to engage the lever 14. This upright 3 also has an arm 3 upon which is mounted a worm wheel 41 to which is secured a split nut 42, the halves of which may be locked around a screw 44 by a locking member 43. The upper part of the screw 44 is provided with a laterally extending arm 45 through which a screw 46 which is fastened to the upright 3 extends. The latter is provided with an adjusting nut 47 and with alock nut 48, to limit the movement of the arm 45.

Arranged to cooperate with the worm wheel 41 is a worm 49 on a shaft 50, see Fig. 7, provided with a bevel gear 51 arranged to engage with a bevel gear 52 on a shaft 53 which is provided with a star wheel 54: arranged to be engaged by a pin 55 on the sprocket wheel 33.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood.

In Fig. 1 I have shown diagrannnatically the course of the film. It comes from the upper reel 56, passes over a sprocket 57 thence downwardly through the machine 58, over a sprocket 59, is looped at 60 and passes over a sprocket 61, and thence downwardly around the take-up reel. It is at the point between the take-up reel and the sprocket 61 that the film 62 is generally broken. As will be seen from Fig. 1, the sprocket 61 is on a shaft 63, this shaft being a power shaft which drives the intermittent feed sprocket 59 by the usual mechanism, not shown. Instead of connecting the power shaft with the take-up reel to drive the latter, as in the ordinary manner, I make use of a governor which forms the subject of the present invention.

teferring now to Fig. 7, it will be seen that, as the sprocket chain 30 which is connected with the power shaft 63 turns the shaft 32, the latter will revolve the vertical shaft (5, and as the speed increases will cause the balls 9 to fly apart, thus raising the left endof the lever 1+ in Figs. (3 and 7, and at the same tnne lowering the friction disk 19 toward the axis of the shaft 21 so as to cause a speeding up of the friction wheel 20 and hence of the shafts 21 and 25, and of the sprocket chain 27 which drives the take-up reel. There is a point, however, where the further speeding up of the take-up reel will cause a strain on the film. \Vhen the lever ll reaches the bottom of the screw 44, the lever will be arrested, and any further speeding up of the powe: shaft 63 will be inetfective for causing a greater speed in the take-up reel, thereby preventing undue strain on the film.

The screw l-L may be adjusted by unlocking the nut 42 and moving the screw upwardly or downwardly as desired, and then rclocking the nut.

As the pin 55 on the sprocket .wheel 33, see Fig. 7, revolves, it engages the star wheel 54 thereby turning the shaft 53 and, through the medium of the bevel gears 52 and 51, turns the worm .49. which turns the gear -11. As stated before, the nut 42 is-secured to the gear, and this causes a downward movement of the screw H. thus tending to reduce the maximum speed at which the take-up reel is driven. so that. as the film is wound on the take-up reel, the diameter of the roll of film becomes greater, the speed is automatically slowed.

The device is especially desirable, when used in connection with old films which have seen considerable service, because these are the films apt to become torn through undue strain.

It will be observed that as the disk 19 is swung downwardly, it tends to force the disk or wheel 20 to the right in Figs. 6 and 7. To this end the shaft 21 is feathered to its bearing, as shown in Fig. 6, and is provided with a spring 22 which keeps the wheel 20 in constant engagement with the wheel 19.

I claim 1. In a moving picture machine, the combination with a power shaft and a take-up reel, of means disposed between the power shaft and the take-up reel, for driving the latter from the power shaft, and means for limliting the maximum speed of the take-up ree 2. In a moving picture machine, the combination with a power shaft and a take-up reel, of means disposed between the power shaft and the take-up reel for driving the latter from the power shaft, means for limiting the maximum speed of the take-up reel, and means for varying the limit of the maximum speed of the take-up reel.

3. In a governing device for the take-up reels of moving picture devices, a power shaft, a ball governor actuated thereby, a lever, a friction wheel carried by the lever, a second friction wheel arranged to be engaged by said first named friction wheel, means for transmitting the movement of the second named friction Wheel to the take-up reel, and means for limiting the amount of movement of the lever.

4. In a governing device for the take-up reels of moving picture devices, a power shaft, a ball governor actuated thereby, a lever, a friction wheel carried by the lever, a second friction wheel arranged to be engaged by said first named friction wheel, means for transmitting the movement of the second named friction wheel to the take-up reel, and means for limiting the amount of movement of the lever, said last named means comprising a screw.

5. In a governing device for the take-up reels of moving picture devices, a power shaft, a ball governor actuated thereby, a lever, a friction wheel carried by the lever, a second friction wheel arranged to be engagedby said first named friction wheel, means for transmitting the movement of the second named friction wheel to the take-up reel, and means for limiting the amount of movement of the lever, said last named means comprising a screw, and means for causing aprogressive forward movement of the screw along its axis during the rotation of the take-up reel.

6. In a governing device for take-up reels, a power shaft, a centrifugal governor operated thereby, a lever actuated by the governor, means for limiting the movement of the lever in either direction, a friction disk carried by the lever on the opposite side of its fulcrum from the governor, a second friction disk or wheel in engagement with said first named friction disk, spring means for retaining said second named friction disk against said first named friction disk, and means including a sprocket and sprocket wheel for communicating the movement of said second named friction wheel with said take-up reel.

7. In a governing device for take-up reels, a power shaft, a centrifugal governor operated thereby, a lever actuated by the governor, means for limiting the movement of the lever ineither direction, a friction disk carried by the lever on the opposite side of its fulcrum from the governor, a second friction disk or wheel in engagement with said first named friction disk, spring means for retaining said second named friction disk against said first named friction disk, and means including a sprocket and sprocket Wheel for communicating the movement of said second named friction wheel with said take-up reel, and means including a worm and gear driven by said power shaft for advancing one of said lever limiting means to vary the limiting points.

ALBERT D. COVERT. 

